House Vahali

House Vahali
General information
Location(s)	Kaikielius Denon
Historical information
Date fragmented	10 ABY

Warning: The following parameters in the infobox are unrecognized: members

"Since earliest memory the enemies of the Prajii had been the Vahalii and the Juonii."

―Doctor Gabrel Treon, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji: A Cartel of Genes

House Vahali, members of which were known as the Vahalii, was a Great House that was based on the planet Kaikielius during the rule of the Galactic Republic. Along with its rivals, House Juoni and House Praji, House Vahali formed part of the Triad, and the three families collectively held much influence on the planet Coruscant, the Republic's capital. Eventually, House Juoni collapsed and House Praji departed Kaikielius, leaving the world to the Vahalii. Members of House Vahali were elected to all levels of the Kaikieli government, but the family faced problems as a result of the rising power of criminal factions on Kaikielius. However, the criminals were eventually driven from Kaikielius in 4225 BBY, leaving House Vahali free to reconstruct the world. Thousands of years later, Nahdonnis Praji of House Praji conquered Kaikielius during Operation Shadow Hand, shattering House Vahali's power base. The Vahalii later reemerged on the planet Denon, where they attempted to build a new sphere of influence for themselves.

History

"The Reconquista was devastating but effective, and once the Hutts and other undesirables had been driven out, the Vahalii were free to rebuild as they wished."

―Doctor Gabrel Treon, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji: A Cartel of Genes

House Vahali was an aristocratic family that lived on the planet Kaikielius during the rule of the Galactic Republic. From early in their history, the Vahalii considered themselves the enemies of House Praji, another Kaikieli family. According to legend, the Vahalii were descended from the original colonists of Kaikielius, who had fragmented as a result of a doctrinal dispute and divided themselves into three groups—House Vahali, House Praji, and House Juoni. However, the historian Doctor Gabrel Treon later speculated that the legend was untrue and that the three Houses were just the strongest of a number of families vying for control on Kaikielius. Regardless of their origins, the Vahalii, the Juonii, and the Prajii eventually institutionalized themselves and became Great Houses that were collectively known as the Triad. Jointly, the three houses held much influence on the planet Coruscant, the capital of the Republic. The families began competing against each other, and, on occasion, the Vahalii absorbed lesser Kaikieli families into themselves or bribed them into working against the interests of the Juonii and the Prajii.

House Juonii eventually collapsed as a result of its role in the First Alsakan Conflict, leaving Kaikielius to House Vahali and House Praji. The two houses continued to plot against each other, and their dissension prevented Kaikielius from gaining primacy over its rival world, Koros. Following the unification of the Koros system in 5000 BBY, Kaikielius experienced large-scale industrial growth in an attempt to compete with Koros, leading to widespread urban development on Kaikielius. As a result, the world attracted the attention of the Hutts, and both the Vahalii and the Prajii began losing credits as a result of Hutt operations on Kaikielius.

The Praji family relocated to Coruscant in 4800 BBY, and, in their absence, members of House Vahali were elected to positions at all levels of Kaikielius' government. However, criminal factions began to become increasingly powerful on the world, and the Vahalii struggled to maintain control. For sixty years, Emppu Praji-Barck, the Republic Minister of State and a member of the Praji family, prevented the Republic from coming to the aide of House Vahali, and conditions on Kaikielius worsened. Eventually, the Prajii bribed the Hutt Odominic kajidic into supplying arms to criminals on Kaikielius, causing a war to develop on the planet between the criminal gangs and the world's police force. The escalated conflict forced the Republic to intervene, and it sent troops to Kaikielius in 4225 BBY, during what became known as the Kaikieli Reconquista. The Jedi Padawan Derrica Praji, another member of the Praji family, fought alongside the Republic forces on Kaikielius and helped them to retake the planet from the criminals, despite knowing that by doing so, he was aiding the Vahalii and thereby negating centuries of scheming carried out by his family. In the aftermath of the Reconquista, House Vahali was left free to reconstruct Kaikielius, and the Prajii were angered that their schemes against the Vahalii had failed.

By the time of the Galactic Civil War, over four thousand years later, House Vahali had established its headquarters in a skyhook that orbited Kaikielius. During Operation Shadow Hand in 10 ABY, Nahdonnis Praji of the Praji family led Imperial forces in an attack on Kaikielius, and he knocked the Vahalii skyhook out of orbit. The destruction of its headquarters and the subsequent Imperial occupation of Kaikielius shattered the power base of House Vahali, forcing it into poverty. The Vahalii eventually resurfaced on the planet Denon, where they attempted to build a new sphere of influence for themselves. Gabrel Treon later wrote about the Vahalii in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji: A Cartel of Genes, a history of the Praji family that was published in the Byblos Journal of Historical Science in 104 ABY.

Behind the scenes

House Vahali was created by Nathan O'Keefe and featured in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji, an article that was published in the Hyperspace section of the website StarWars.com in 2009.

Sources

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji on Hyperspace (article) (content removed from StarWars.com and unavailable)